


This Type of Love Isn't Rational

by alecmagnuslwb



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, maybe a lil ooc but just think of it as rebellion and it's not, sort of like read between the lines fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26631721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alecmagnuslwb/pseuds/alecmagnuslwb
Summary: She's not unaware of exactly who John is, it just doesn't bother her. Her dad has a few things to say about it though.
Relationships: John Constantine/Zatanna Zatara
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	This Type of Love Isn't Rational

**Author's Note:**

> This one’s for FlowerFaerie who requested JohnZee inspired by the song Criminal by Britney Spears. Hope you like it!

When the magical stone her father gave her glows bright she knows she’s in for it. He’s been supportive more or less since she left home on her nineteenth birthday to figure out who Zatanna was when she wasn’t just known as the daughter of the great Zatara.

He doesn’t call often, just an occasional check in, but more often than not he hears enough from his many contacts to know she’s alright which satisfies him. If he’s calling now it’s because he’s heard all about her new companion and he’s likely not happy.

But then again most people wouldn’t be all that happy to learn their child is running around with the likes of John Constantine.

“Ekam em elbatneserp,” she says waving a hand down her body and adjusting herself on the bed. In one magical wave she’s dressed in a t-shirt and dark comfortable pants, her messy hair now a neat ponytail on her head, she looks like she’s getting ready for bed not like she just had John’s face buried between her thighs for an excruciatingly beautiful amount of time.

“Hey, dad!” she says bright and chipper as she touches the sigil on the stone her father’s image coming to life in front of her swathed in sparkling blue magic.

“Hello, Zatanna,” he says with a grimace. Yup, he definitely knows about John. For a few minutes though he keeps the small talk just that, small, asking about her recent shows and how she’s doing with keeping up on her magical studies and then he steers the conversation exactly where she knew it was going. 

“So I hear you’ve been running with a Mr. Constantine,” he says leadingly, it’s funny to hear someone refer to John as Mr. Constantine usually it’s just Constantine or extremely colorful insults when he’s referred to.

Zatanna takes a deep breath, her dad won’t outright say he doesn’t approve based upon what he’s most likely heard about Constantine, but he no doubt wants her to admit she’s dating a criminal.

Which technically she is. John isn’t what Zatanna expected. She’d been on her own for nearly three years by the time she ran into him. She could feel his magic from across the room and despite the cocky grin and the obvious fact he only had one thing on his mind as he looked her up and down she got closer.

She didn’t go home with him that night, but before the week was out they were sleeping in the same bed more often than not and she was quickly more than aware of who he was and how he operated.

John doesn’t play by any rules. He does magic the way he wants and he lives the way he wants. If that means swindling people out of money, magic and on one memorable occasion the entire house of mystery, which he proceeded to lose in a poker game months later, he doesn’t mind.

Zatanna may not directly participate in his more illegal choices, but she also doesn’t try to stop him or change him because underneath the con man is a good man who cares and wants to help a lot more than he’d ever willingly say out loud to anyone, even to her. She knows though, she sees the man underneath it all. 

But she’s not stupid either, realistically this could all blow up in her face one day and she gets that. For all intents and purposes John is what people would call a bad boy with a tainted heart, but she’s irrevocably in love with him anyway.

Most people can’t fathom what she sees him, she’s very much certain her father will also be on that list.

“I am,” Zatanna says hearing the shower shut off. She hopes to move this conversation along quickly as to not have her father get more than eyeful of John. “Why do you ask?”

Her father pauses pensive, clearly carefully choosing his words to not anger her before he even gets to make the point he wants to make. 

“Well, I was thinking it’s been a while since you’ve been home and if this…young man is important to you that you could bring him along and we could meet,” he says diplomatically.

Zatanna squints her eyes knowing this is a bad idea, a colossal mistake, she can tell from the tone of his voice her father already has an opinion about John that any sort of dinner won’t change his mind and will no doubt be a disaster.

However, she kind of loves the idea of the mayhem. Being with John has really brought out some of the more diabolical bits in her.

The bathroom door starts to open and Zatanna rushes her father away.

“Sounds great, dad, how about we come by for dinner on Friday?” she rushes out just as John steps out with not so much as a small towel on. Her father barely gets to nod his head in agreement before she’s saying her goodbyes and shutting the call down.

“Who are we havin’ dinner with Friday?” John asks as she tosses the stone onto the nightstand. He grabs his cigarettes and lights one before flopping back on the bed next to her.

“My father,” she says glumly falling back on the bed as well.

John chuckles and takes a quick drag before tilting his head to the side to look at her.

“I’ll put on my best suit,” he says with a cheeky grin. Zatanna rolls her eyes as far as she can tell John only owns one suit that he just keeps washing the blood out of and continuing on. This dinner is most definitely going to be a shitshow.

***

“My dad is going to hate you; you know that right?” Zatanna says as they make their way to the front door that Friday.

“Why’s that?” John says with a sly grin. “Is it because I’m a two-bit con man who smokes too much and has a questionable criminal history and magical record?” he continues cheekily coming to stop on the top step leading to the door.

He attempts to adjust his tie, cigarette still hanging loosely from his lips as he raises a hand about to knock before Zatanna pulls it down and turns him to face her. She moves her hands up to his neck fixing his tie properly and buttoning up the open buttons of white his shirt, a real opposite to how she usually gets when her hands are on that red tie of his.

“That’s exactly why,” she says with a smirk of her own patting John’s tie once it’s evenly placed. She reaches up and plucks the cigarette from his still smirking lips. She takes a calming drag before flicking it into a puddle she narrowly avoided moments before at the bottom of the stairs.

She hasn’t exactly picked up John’s favorite bad habit on the regular, or this one at least, but she’ll be damned if the smell of his particular brand and the burn of it on her lips doesn’t have the keen ability to soothe the edges of her nerves from time to time. It’s all his damn fault, bastard she loves and his shitty habit she hates that she loves.

Her father opens the door before she can even knock a big greeting smile on his face, he pulls her in for a tight embrace before focusing his attention on John. The handshake they share is so tense she’s certain it’s all going to go off the rails immediately before they can so much as pick up a single fork.

But much to her absolute shock her father is well behaved in the moment, introducing himself politely and then all through appetizers and the main course he keeps that same bright attitude. Half of the smiles are as fake as they can get and he’s clearly trying to goad John into slipping up and play into every rumor he’s ever heard about him, but no fights break out which she calls a win.

John plays the picture-perfect boyfriend, he’s a good con man for a reason, so much so that Zatanna has to hold in her laughter at how corny he’s being. Her father’s almost buying it, that’s how good he is at this.

Dessert is when it all falls apart.

“Zatanna could I speak to you in the study,” her father says gesturing to the door from the dining room they’re in that connects to his office, a room she once used to admire in wonder that she’s now dreading.

She nods as her father stands up from the table and heads for the double doors. John makes a teasing face like a child watching their friend be called into the principal’s office at her and she reaches out shoving a hand through his and yanking it back playfully before turning to follow her father.

He wastes no time getting started once he shuts the doors behind them.

“Do you know what kind of man you’ve taken up with?” he says none to quietly. There’s no way John can’t hear them. Usually this room would have some sort of silencing spell on it, but she can tell from the lack of magic in the walls that there aren’t any today. Her dad wants John to hear that he isn’t good enough for his daughter.

“I’m well aware,” she says frustrated even if she saw this coming.

“The things I’ve heard about him from very trusted sources are abominable. The dealings he’s made, the magic he’s tampered with,” her father says pacing the room back and forth getting louder by the second. “He’s a thief and con man at best, a monster at worst and neither of those options are good!”

He goes on for a few more minutes throwing out any number of words about John and about her poor judgement. She tunes him out letting him get it all out of his system before she interrupts.

“Hguone!” she shouts and her father goes silent. “You don’t need to tell me who the man I’ve been with for nearly a year is, I’m aware he’s not exactly some golden boy, but I don’t care. I know him better than you could ever know him from just rumors and stories.” She says loudly then lowers her voice so John doesn’t hear the next part. “I know that maybe one day I’ll have made a bad call here, but so far all he’s done is trust me and love me, so I can take the rest as it comes.”

She takes a deep breath before making her finally point, voice deadly calm. 

“You’re right about one thing he is a criminal, and guess what dad? I love him and that’s not changing anytime soon. When you have accepted that or at least trusted your own daughters’ judgement on who she’s sleeping with, we’ll come back by for a more peaceful dinner, but for now we’re leaving.”

She finishes with a turn her coattails spinning out behind her as she opens the double doors. John is already sitting there on the table waiting for her tie loose and buttons undone once again, an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips and a plate with four generously sized pieces of chocolate cake on it in his hand.

“Figured we’re having dessert to go,” he says with a wink when he spots her eyeing the plate.

He holds out his free hand and hops off the table. “Shall we, luv?”

She grabs two forks from the table as she walks towards him tossing one last glance back at her father who looks so disappointed as she grabs John’s hand and pulls him to the front door.

Yeah, one day this may all blow up in her face, one day her father may get to say I told you so, but for today she’s going to enjoy the ride with this devil of a man she’s fallen for.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [alecmagnuslwb](https://alecmagnuslwb.tumblr.com/)


End file.
